Apprenticeship Data Match Report Not Updating

Hi Matthew, we are experiencing the exact same problem. I noticed at the start of this week we had several learners in our data match report with the DLock 01 and 02 error codes but the learners in question had already been approved by the employer and showing as LIVE in DAS. Also confirmed that their details were correct on the ILR and matched with DAS. Haven't experienced this issue before.

After some back and forth with the helpdesk they replied last night stating that they reviewed the learners in question, couldn't find any discrepancies and to allow for the DLock errors to resolve themselves.

I'm guessing it is a wider issue on their side, hopefully they're working on a resolution as it's impacting multiple providers.

Thanks Jonathan, I'm slightly glad to hear that this is a Wider Issue and not just limited to ourselves. I will continue to pressure the DfE through the Helpdesk and I hope this is resolved asap

Same issue here. No response from ticket just yet but we've spoken on the phone to the helpdesk who have acknowledged the issue and agreed to escalate. 

Hi All,

I am also having this same issue, I raised it last week with the helpdesk and it has been escalated to the technical team, lets hope they get this resolved before Wednesday next week.

If I hear anything from them before anyone else does, I will update on here.

I've linked in this post so others can comment if they see it.   This does appear to be a system issue, so hopefully someone at the DfE could update on progress in this article.

Unfortunately, this looks to still be occuring after the Easter Break. I hope this is resolved ASAP

Same here, issue not resolved yet.

We're also having this issue, DAS showing its not been updated since 23/03/2026 even though we have submitted ILRs on 30/03/2026, 02/04/2026 and today so we've not been able to start getting new learners on. Raising a ticket today.

We're also having this issue. DLOCK_2 for all starts in March. However we can see that the learners are showing as live on the DAS. Interestingly it is triggering other errors for learners who started in March such as DLOCK 7 where data had been entered incorrectly. 

I'm speaking to them at the moment. They've said that there is a fix, but it requires myself to be elevated to the technical team who then tells us to alter something on the ILR. 

I'm worried as this is affecting quite a few of this months starts. However it normally takes several weeks to get a response from the technical team. Has anyone received this fix yet?

Hi Sam,

I have had a ticket in with the technical team since 26/03 about this and still not had a response, just the usual we will get back to you in 10 working days.

I have checked our data this morning and we still have 50+ learners with this mismatch, I have gone back to the technical team on my last update from them and said I believe there is a fix, can they please let me know what it is, or what alternative they plan to make sure we are paid for these learners.

Unless there is an update on here first, I will let you know when/if I hear anything back from them.

It's very strange that they've not posted an update about this, as they usually do. This seems to be affecting all providers

Hi All,

I just wanted to share the below, this is the response I have just had from the technical team, I am not hopeful we will get a resolution today on this:

I just heard back from them asking for more information this morning. I've supplied it and asked if they are going to resolve this before hard close. They said they'd let me know in ten days but that it might be longer. 

I like that this was published yesterday, on a known issue page that has issues from 2024.

help.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/hc/en-gb/articles/34614089084050-Training-providers-receiving-unexpected-DLOCK-01-and-02-errors-in-their-data-match-report

Can't believe this is happening two weeks after they defunded TLS3. It feels like chaos at the moment.

Oddly the only two learners who aren't showing on the data match who started in March had a few things in common.

One had a dlock 7 which was resolved yesterday. - I tried forcing a dlock7 error on a dlock2 error to see if this would resolve the dlock2 errors however it didn't so I changed it back.

One had their cohort approved yesterday.

All the rest were approved between the 27th March and 6th of April.

Also I noticed in the downloaded reports that they don't seem to have changed their clocks. In the zip file you'll notice that the file creation date and time is actually an hour earlier then BST, seems to still be GMT. Not sure if they have a timeserver sync issue going wrong somewhere?

Had this through from the DAS helpdesk. Reading this it suggest payments may be blocked for dlock 2 even though these learners are approved.

Your ILR was uploaded after cohort approval, however ILR submissions are not displaying as expected on the system. Based on this and reports from other providers, this appears to be a system-related AS data match issue, which is placing affected learners at risk of delayed or blocked payments.

Hi all,

Has anyone else noticed that the affected learners all have an “Unconfirmed” status in the Apprenticeship Service?

I’ve been contacting those learners and asking them to confirm their record, and where they’ve received the link and completed this, the DLOCK2 error has cleared.

I’ve been trying to do the same with the remaining learners, but most aren’t receiving the confirmation email—even when I manually trigger a resend from the AS.

I’m not suggesting this is definitively the root cause, but there does appear to be a consistent pattern here.

Sam Bern I have just checked our return uploaded this morning at 10.55 and the files say 09.54 on them

So, wouldn't surprise me if that is what has caused the issue, as it is only causing problems with anything from the 27th onwards

Mark Fenwick - same with us - our learners have not been receiving notifications for the last couple of weeks despite resending. 

Latest ticket response:

Thank you for contacting the Apprenticeship Service Support Team. regarding unexpected DLOCKs you are receiving
 
Your issue has been raised with our Specialist Support Team for further investigation. We are aware there is a known issue and the team will confirm if this is linked. The team will be providing an update shortly as we appreciate providers have the R08 deadline this evening.

We have around 10 starts currently impacted by this.  We were told verbally yesterday that payment in these cases would not be impacted.  However, that seems to be at odds with what was published last night. 

Did anyone else just receive this email. I wonder if the two things are related?

https://news.service.education.gov.uk/792DAD8834400F7ED2A4F04DE6BD5E3947EF296D35D763DDCFD06C2D380696BA/8F17FDC360C712E946A8488422EE9F9A/VIB?utm_source=e-shot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=OP_TP_HMRC+Employment+Checks_Launch+Email&es_c=8F17FDC360C712E946A8488422EE9F9A&es_cl=7DEEBA3634A905A164F87F723612579D&es_id=xej%c2%a3c2

Mark Fenwick Just to confirm we have the same issue where the learners haven't confirmed. I think this must be it. We have three learners who have a 'confirmed' status these learners do not have a dlock2 error. These are the only learners who started in March who don't have this errror.

Has the guidance on learner confirmation changed?

Sam Bern - i can't see any change in the guidance re learner confirmation?!

We have 55 learners currently held with this and I have checked and we have multiple learners showing as unconfirmed but they aren't showing as a data mismatch, unless it is just me?

The learner satatus of Unconfirmed isn't what is impacting us. Some have confirmed some haven't. 

I believe the advice around the learner confirmation actually relates that the cohort approval.  However, i cannot confirm this. 

Given the revenue potentially at risk/delayed by this, it is disappointing that we aren't receiving better updates from the department.

Ahh so it's just coincedence between my learners and Mark Fenwick. Thanks for checking!

50 minutes to go. Anyone heard anything?

Not in terms of any resolution or update. I've just been on a live chat with the support team and I was told to keep checking the known issues page for any updates and also that no official line could be provided on whether "unresolved" DLOCK01 or DLOCK02s would be subject to no payment. The agent could only say that any update on that could only be provided once the issue had been resolved.

ILR window is open until 6pm not 5pm so there is just over another hour and a half... though it's whether the SLD site could cope with the submission of thousands of ILR files in the short window before 6pm even if it got resolved! Fingers crossed.

I've had the following update which is not positive - "Please be assured we are currently working to resolve this issue; however, we do not have an immediate fix that will resolve your incident before the window for R08 closes. We are aiming to resolve this for the R09 return and therefore the DLOCKs should clear when you resubmit your ILR at R09.
 
We will confirm once this has been resolved for your ULNs in this ticket."